Stephen Colbert has always had a special relationship with Canada, calling Windsor “the Earth’s rectum,” Canadians “syrup suckers” and once singing O Canada lyrics to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner with B.C. crooner Michael Buble.

But does he have what it takes to be the King of Canada?

Democracy Watch, a non-profit group advocating government accountability, is pushing for 100,000 Canadians to sign an online petition at colbertforking.com.

The satirical campaign is intended to bolster the idea of dropping the monarchy and creating more checks and balances for Canada’s prime minister and premiers.

“He gets Canadians,” Democracy Watch coordinator Tyler Sommers said Friday. “He regularly talks about Canada. He has ties to Canada with his grandmother, who emigrated to Canada from Ireland. It’s no less crazy to have an American as our head of state as someone from Britain.”

If the organization successfully gets 100,000 signatures, Sommers said they will try and entice the satirical comedian to come to Ottawa’s Parliament Hill for the coronation at the end of summer.

As of Friday at 5 p.m., over 400 people had signed the petition.

The majority of Canadians agree with the need for an elected head of state, according to a Harris-Decima survey conducted in May 2012, Sommers said. The result found 55% of Canadians want to “change it up” from a member of the British royal family.

Queen Elizabeth is officially Canada’s head of state. She is represented by the governor general, an appointed position, currently held by David Johnston.

“It’s a democratically-elected Canadian who is able to actually represent Canadians and ensure that the prime minister and provincial premiers aren’t able to abuse their power,” Sommers explained. “It’s basically changing the way our governor general and lieutenant governors work. It’s changing them from a hollow symbol of old history to a practical position that can actually help Canadians.”

Interview requests to the American comedian’s Twitter accounts and his New York publicists were not immediately returned Friday.

The Monarchist League of Canada said if it’s oversight Democracy Watch is fighting for, part of that is “already being fulfilled” by the governor general.

“He meets regularly with the prime minister, he always has his eye on what’s going on with Parliament, and his duty is always to support Parliament, so as long as the constitution is not being violated,” said the league’s Ontario vice-chairman Cian Horrobin.

“I’m a big fan of Stephen Colbert, whether he should be king or not is pretty disputable. It’s a stunt to provoke thought. If it makes a lot of Canadians think about the monarchy — as long as they do their research — people end up liking it. I don’t think they’re going to get their 100,000 and even if it did, it wouldn’t signify much.”

This isn’t the first time Canadians have tried to get the Comedy Central TV star to the Great White North. The chair of Windsor’s business association unsuccessfully attempted to sway Colbert to get involved with the city’s parade with a gift basket.

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